


save yourself from caving in

by uai



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: (but if you write bullshit on him I'll come at you), Ben Solo is a blank slate, Emperor Armitage Hux, Fix-It, Hux is a BAMF, I recognize that Disney made a decision but given that it's a stupid ass decision I'm retconning it, M/M, Politics, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Slow Burn, War Realism, acknowledging problems beyond the jedi x sith bullshit in the star wars universe, dissing tros as much as tros dissed tlj
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22308415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uai/pseuds/uai
Summary: The Battle of Exegol is over.Some might think the galaxy has been saved, but Armitage Hux knows threats go beyond Force-sensitives.temporary hiatus.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 21
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by that tumblr post everyone and their moms have seen at this point, but my mind kind of ran with it and ended up overanalyzing the possibilities for the future of the galaxy, including the only one i'd be interested in. :)

_You can now be._

Ben feels his limbs shake as he gasps for breath, the unfamiliar voice echoing in his head as if taking all of his thoughts away and replacing them with those words.

If that's the intent, it manages quite well - he sees everything, what he's done, what he's thought, what he's felt, and yet there's a distance to it. It feels as if there's a curtain separating him from his past, should he call it that when it's like looking into the mind of someone else. At the forefront of his mind, the words resound, quieter as they are slowly replaced with pain.

Reasonably, he knows why: he died. He's supposed to be dead, but he's alive and his body isn't taking that so well. Those thoughts don't come to him, though, too overtaken by the searing ache and a strange novelty towards everything, but a desire to cry for help makes him realize he’s completely alone.

There’s no one to help him, even just reassure him that he isn’t dead, that this isn’t the beginning of whatever death holds for him. The distant memories tell him there is a ship, pull him _away_ , toward Rey, he assumes as the memories speak of a dyad and the companionship it’s supposed to present.

There’s no one to help him but he’s alive where he hadn’t been minutes ago.

Maybe he’d had to die to start over as himself, maybe he had been Kylo Ren this whole time and that’s what the voice in his head means, he can _be_ , but what is he supposed to be now? Ben Solo?

His head hurts and being in what will soon be the forgotten haven of the Sith doesn’t help, so he forces himself to stand up and hobble to the old TIE that brought him here.

-

As is common among soldiers in a war, nightmares are nothing new to Armitage Hux. He goes to sleep and knows he'll wake up agitated, sour, without any perspective of improvement in his situation.

That’s nothing like and at the same time identical to waking up in a bacta tank. He never imagined himself experiencing this specific situation what with the distance he usually keeps from battle, yet here he is, just as unsettled but due to circumstances he can’t control. 

It should be humiliating. Hux should want to leave as soon as possible, get rid of all evidence that he was ever here, but where the last time he’d been conscious there had only been sharp pain on his stomach, there is now nothing but pink skin. It’s as if Pryde had never discovered or shot him.

It’s hard not to fight against it but Hux knows better, rationalizing his way through the process of leaving the tank - not unaided, he discovers as he finds himself looking into the face of one Lieutenant Mitaka as soon as he’s out.

“General! I hope you don’t mind that I took action without orders from you, but circumstances were…” The man manages to look even more nervous than usual as he continues, “ _atypical_. Your life seems more important than chain of command, you see, especially when the Order is, well, destroyed-”

“Mitaka,” he attempts to bark, but his voice is tired, weak. In a way, he’s surprised it’s taken this long for something like that to happen. “Shut up.”

Despite having just said that the Order is no more, Mitaka obeys the command as if Hux is still his superior, a small mercy if he can say so. There’s a lot to take in and _how_ he’s survived this far is not at all what concerns him. “Where are we?” He questions, needing to know that he’s safe before he can relax, though if he’s not, there’s nothing he can do in his current state. He’s much better, yes, but he doesn’t know how long he’s been in the tank for - longer than a few minutes, if his wobbly legs mean anything.

“One of the ships you built, General. Allegiant General Pryde refused to use them, after- ah, it’s well equipped and we are far from battle now. When we left, I set course to Ajan Kloss.” Hux makes a face at the unfamiliar name. “The Resistance base. I’ve only known for a few days, they trust me well enough by now.”

The thought that someone he thought he knew is a traitor should be too much, but Hux knows it is a high standard to hold people to when he hadn't managed as well as he'd have liked on that front. “How long?” He asks, both eager to be out of a ship for once and anxious about what awaited him upon their arrival.

After all, he'd revealed his selfish reasons for being an informant and he is still the same Hux he has always been.

“We arrived a few hours ago, but there’s no reason to leave.” Hux doesn’t have to ask why when Mitaka is blatantly staring at his chest. He can only imagine what he’d seen before putting Hux in the tank - it couldn’t have been a good sight, it certainly didn’t feel pleasant. But now there’s new skin replacing something that could have killed him and while he doesn’t think being out of the tank feels much better than being in it, this indisposition will go away eventually and leave him alive. Even now, he feels closer to physical stability with every second. There are sounds outside, stifled by the walls of the ship enough that they can’t be heard with clarity yet just on the right side of loud that a celebration is undeniable. “It seems the, uh, Sith? They were taken down. I haven’t heard of much, the others left as soon as all the noise started.”

Others? Hux doesn’t ask, aware that if _he_ had been angry enough to betray the work of a lifetime, there had to be many others in similar situations. Like Mitaka himself. Hux supposes he would have noticed if he cared enough to - the Lieutenant is easy to read and rattle, alas being pushed aside by Kylo Ren and replaced with a man as vile as Pryde had been left him with little will to cooperate.

However, he does know he can’t pretend the galaxy will end for him in this ship and hide away forever. The future lies outside and he must face it.

“Well, are you coming?” He asks Mitaka as he looks around the ship, recognizing its model and with it knowing where he can find a uniform to make himself presentable. An undershirt and jodhpurs will do - the last thing he needs is to be seen in a brand new First Order uniform, though he knows there is more than one of those here, a habit of his to ensure officers are always appropriately dressed. A habit he’ll grow out of now, he supposes.

“Me- you- General, forgive me, but you’re in no state-” Mitaka stammers, looking as uneasy as he must feel.

“You’re no nanny droid. I say that I’m fine enough to leave so I am. And don’t call me that.” _General_. A simple reminder of everything he had tossed aside for one Force user whose betrayal to the very Order the two of them swore to protect felt more personal than he would ever care to admit. “So _are you coming_?” He repeats, now fully dressed, and raises his eyebrows at the other, who nods too many times.

The controls of the ship are familiar enough despite having been a few years since he built it and he lowers the ramp, not at all happy to leave the safety that the ship provided, temporary as it may be, for the company of those he can’t say with certainty are no longer enemies.

And he isn’t the only one to feel that way - suspicious glares and insults are thrown his way, though no one acts on what he’s sure they want to do to him. Murder, torture, things the like of which don’t get along with the Resistance’s philosophy of being morally superior, he supposes. Some simply look confused and he can’t blame them. Sloane taught him at a young age that appearance has great meaning and when it comes to confidence, it’s all one truly needs. 

Hux may have no idea what will be of him tomorrow, but he looks like a man who’s sure of his freedom.

A couple of familiar faces are spotted - Unamo and Stynnix talking to someone from the Resistance, he can see Dameron far off - but nothing enough to stop him in his tracks until the one face that hadn’t crossed his mind, the one he doesn’t want to have to face ever again, yet here he is.

Kylo Ren.

Mitaka slams into his back due to the sudden halt he came to, but he doesn’t feel it or hear the younger’s apologies. His ears are ringing and he has half a mind to turn around, go back into his ship and fly away from here, anywhere, even if he runs out of fuel before he actually gets somewhere and ends up stuck in the unknown regions until he runs out of air and dies. Being chewed alive by a rathtar seems like a better option than staying and having to look at _that_ again.

Of course, that’s when it sees him. Where the former Supreme Leader had been smiling - _smiling_ , an actual twist of his facial features into what he can't deny is a pleased expression and can only be defined as that - there is now surprise and pallor. It makes Hux feel somewhat better to know he’s uncomfortable to see him here, but not enough so that he can claim he’s anywhere near content. No, he’s frozen despite wanting to get the kriff away, aware of how weak he looks like this, vulnerable in a way no one outside of the First Order had seen him before and is now exposed to many of the people in the galaxy who are looking for things to use against him.

A good day for the Resistance.

Not at all the same for Hux, he’s convinced of it when instead of looking away, Ren is walking in his direction, eyes never leaving him. What is he doing here? Why is no one stopping him? 

Both questions would have the same answer if he asked them about himself, he guesses.

Hux has recovered enough of his composure to glare at Ren when they’re face to face. Mitaka balks and hides behind him, but he pays him no mind. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, to throw an accusation or a curse, _something_ , but before he can do that, the other man speaks up.

“I’m sorry, Hux.”

All of his previous thoughts leave him at that.

He’s _sorry_? Kylo Ren, leader of the Knights of Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order after the murder (at his hands, nothing will convince him otherwise) of Leader Snoke, who had also been his master regarding the dark side of the Force or whatever he had been studying, this man is apologizing?

Hux can’t help himself, he laughs. It can only attract more looks than those they're already getting but that doesn't cross his mind in the face of something as absurd as the apology. 

It's not that Hux can't pinpoint what Ren is apologizing for - there are plenty of possibilities to choose from and he doesn't care which he's referring to - but that Hux betrayed the First Order to get rid of Kylo Ren and yet here is the man, alive even if not unharmed and with the Resistance. If that isn't exactly how Hux's luck works, he doesn't know what is. 

“Of course you are, Ren. Tell me, how did you betray us? Betray yourself, rather, considering you were our leader,” Hux asks, taunts. This, at least, is easy, falling back into the habit of insults and scathing glares. 

But the other doesn’t take the bait. Instead. “Ben. It's Ben.”

Funny that something as small as a word can convey so many ideas, but Hux can see it now. He’s out of his uniform, relaxed, the scar on his face is gone, and Hux doesn’t feel any more at ease around this Ben than he did around Kylo Ren.

Before he can reply, though, another familiar voice sounds from the crowd. “C’mon, everyone, today is the end of the war! It’s time to _celebrate_ the future, we’ll start worrying about it tomorrow. Can we get more music?” Dameron, he sees, taking a position of leadership that he doesn’t at all seem ready for, but the people listen to him and leave the ex-officers of the First Order alone. Except for Dameron himself, who approaches them, looking with suspicion at Hux _and_ Ren - Ben, now, how can he have forgotten. “Everything alright here? Talking about plans to run off?”

Hux rolls his eyes.

“Clearing the air,” Ben answers like he has to respond to Dameron. Maybe he does, now. Kylo Ren certainly wouldn’t have. 

“Uh huh.” The pilot nods, glancing between them one more time. “Keep it civil. We don’t want to do anything today, but if we have to, we will.” He gives them a final look before leaving them, Hux doesn’t bother finding out what for.

All he knows is he can’t stay like this so he doesn’t, turning his back to Ben without a word to him so he can return to his ship. 

“But- General- Hux- didn’t you want to be here?” Mitaka stammers as he hurries to follow Hux, something he’d be mad for but his current mental state of frustration doesn’t allow it.

“Circumstances have changed,” he replies curtly. 

He doesn’t have to say it’s about Kylo Ren or Ben, he doesn’t have to say it’s preferable to be locked away if it means that man isn’t near him, he only has to go back and find a bed he can rest in. 

It’s easy to find it when he knows the design of the ship as well as he knows his own mind, but it feels like a grating task. He knows comfort isn’t something he can find when he’s on the same planet as that man, regardless of the name he chooses for himself.

His face is still that of the one who insulted him constantly, who showed no basic decency toward him or any of what he had built for no reason other than petulance, who suffocated him and expected respect to come out of it.

Mitaka is quiet for once, but Hux can’t say he’s pleased when that leaves him alone with his thoughts. Where his options had already been limited, they now hold no pleasant outcomes for himself, and yet he’s relieved by the certainty that whatever it is the Resistance holds for him, Ben will be no part of his punishment.

Tomorrow, he will face the consequences of the life he’s led, a thought that never seemed as appealing as it does right now.


	2. Chapter 2

Their group isn’t as small as Hux had initially imagined, he finds upon waking up.

He can’t pretend he knows all of their names, yet he can count and there are almost ten of them, of people whose faces he used to see every day without ever considering that their paths might lead to defecting and being at the Resistance’s mercy together. It’s a small comfort, knowing that as difficult as his situation is, he isn’t alone. A part of him wants to flee to ensure his freedom and take whoever seeks the same with him, but he’s not the type to hide – he needs to be seen by the galaxy, regardless of what it thinks of him.

The ones he does know are either asleep or in conversation and he doesn’t want to disturb whatever peace they can find, so he quietly steps out of the ship. It’s not that he minds being inside of it as much as a need to know his surroundings. He’s used to controlled environments in the form of ships or Starkiller Base and this planet isn’t similar to anywhere he’s been to before. There isn’t much to speak of - Arkanis, namely, and the few planets he’d visited before ranking high enough that anyone he wanted to speak to would come to him instead.

It’s a jungle planet, that much is clear as he can see little beyond the trees, seemingly forming an endless forest. A place he’s no more interested in than any other, now that it being a Resistance base has no meaning. He supposes something can be done - he can contact one of the local Order bases and call an attack, but that’s assuming he can send a comm outside of the planet and that the personnel running those bases are alive and unaware of his treason.

At any rate, that can only lower his chances of survival. It’s what he currently seeks, aware that there is little chance he will be left to his devices after the Hosnian Cataclysm (he prefers that name over Starkiller Incident - the implication that he is a force of nature is one he enjoys) and trusting his mind to eventually get him out of it.

For that, though, he has to get _into_ it.

Surrender might be the only acceptable course of action and he doesn’t have a problem with that. He surrendered the minute he decided to give the Resistance information about the Order’s plans, to be physically their prisoner is not a decline in his condition.

Mind made up, he goes back to the ship patio and makes his way up to the cave where he can see a corvette, most likely a meaningful ship to the Resistance, as their refuge is below and behind it. A decent position to defend themselves from any attacks, should the need for it arise, and not such a good one when he keeps stopping to pat his leg and make sure it’s not bleeding through his clothes even though his time in the bacta tank means it’s not bleeding at all.

The planet is too warm and the walk is tiring, which should make the arrival at the top and cave entrance all the more rewarding. It doesn’t. He feels like a man walking to his death and he might as well be, something that doesn’t stop him from going farther, in the direction of the familiar voices. As soon as one of them spots him, the conversation stops and too many pair of eyes are on him, between expectant and fearful.

“I have certain demands, whenever the lot of you decide to imprison me,” he begins, deciding to take a direct approach. “I require medical attention. Not a lot of it, I’m sure five minutes with a droid will be enough in my current state. For further humane treatment, I’d like to be made aware of my subordinates’s situations. Are those terms agreeable?”

“You think you’re in a position to make demands?” Finn asks, confident now that their positions from the year before are reversed. He can’t blame him, though he finds it amusing that the former trooper speaks as if he can attempt to give the sort of treatment to prisoners that Hux is used to - the Resistance won’t allow it.

“Yes. And I know you’re not in a position to turn me down.” This isn’t to say they’ll be pleasant about it, which is why he does his best not to sound overconfident despite feeling so. They need to think he’s at their mercy - having been a captor in the past, he knows acknowledging their power is the only sensible route. There’s no surprise when Dameron and Finn exchange a look and a small nod.

“You behave and we’ll give you what you want,” Dameron says, making it sound like a threat. Hux can’t blame him or anyone else in the Resistance for expecting the worst from him.

But is it only where he’s concerned? He can’t help but wonder, eyes wandering to where the former Supreme Leader is meditating. “Will the honor of being imprisoned by the Resistance be bestowed upon others?” He asks, clearly sarcastic as his gaze moves back to the group.

He expects them to say yes. His subordinates are about as guilty for their actions as Hux himself, as all of them worked under someone in the First Order, and while he may not like it, he knows any decent legal assistant can save them. The one person he wants to know about, however, might not even need it - as son of Leia Organa, he might be given some leeway to commit war crimes.

“Yes,” Finn confirms his suspicions. The man looks amused, most likely having noticed where Hux’s eyes had gone, though Hux is more surprised that he recognizes what genuine amusement looks like than that the other noticed the reason for his concern. “Ben isn’t getting any special treatment.”

“He’s innocent,” someone points out. “He was brainwashed and he saved the galaxy.”

It’s exactly what Hux expects from the Resistance, but he’s surprised to find that Finn isn’t the only one who disagrees. “He destroyed his family and the Jedi Order long before that,” Dameron calls in reply.

Hearing Resistance leadership point out their reasons for not liking or trusting Ben Solo is music to his ears, he’ll admit it if asked even though the self-satisfied smile he isn’t trying to hide tells that in itself. “Kylo Ren did that years ago, he’s a different person now,” they insist. “He was Snoke’s apprentice, he didn’t execute an entire system.” Hux doesn’t even have to argue.

“Different crimes, still crimes,” a commander says, gesturing with her hands. “He built Starkiller Base, he was Supreme Leader, the others helped them. They don’t exclude each other.”

“And what about him?”

If nerves had been rattled before, they’re exposed now that the accuser is pointing at Finn. Finn, formerly FN-2187, a First Order trooper who betrayed them after his first off-planet mission. Hux doesn’t know how the Resistance has treated him since his defection, but this makes him think things might not have been as smooth as they looked.

Dameron stands almost immediately, looking like a man ready to defend a loved one, but Finn stops him. “I’ll stand trial,” he says, staring into his accuser’s eyes. “But if you think I should be detained when I haven’t worked for the Order in over one cycle, guess you’re gonna have to take it up to…” He pauses, looks around, points at himself. “Me.”

All at once, Hux hopes that attitude comes from his trooper program while also being entirely opposed to the idea of encouraging that kind of behavior.

“Can I be arrested before I have to hear more about Kylo Ren?” He interrupts, raising his eyebrows.

It speaks more to him about the Resistance’s unwillingness to torture him than anything they could have said when the commander stands up and shows him the way to his holding cell.

-

The ship’s name is _Tantive IV_ , he learns.

Members of the Resistance use it to rest, but on his first day in the holding cell he only sees the commander, who takes him to it, brings him food, shares small tidbits of the ship and the Rebellion’s history. She’s not someone he knows, so the way he’s treated is easier to accept.

He hears others from afar - familiar and unfamiliar voices alike, sometimes happy, cheerful, others angry. He tries not to listen in, gives up on pretending he has something better to do, and loses his interest before he even begins to feel like taking his first sip of water.

He’s left alone, otherwise. It’s both a blessing and a curse, that he can be left to his thoughts. There’s no work to be done, Pryde is dead and can’t undermine him, the life he’s used to is gone, and yet he’s calm. Maybe his situation will sink in soon, but until then he’s tranquil, at ease as if he’s on leave instead of imprisoned. He’s had smaller quarters than this cell.

Sleep comes to him in between far away words, too quiet for him to understand, and he doesn’t even realize it’s happened until his eyes open and he feels a dull, familiar ache in his neck from falling asleep in an inadequate position. He tilts his head, stretching the muscle as best as he can while rubbing it with his right hand, the massage easy enough to his practiced fingers that he uses his left hand to grab the bottled water and drink from it.

There’s an attempt at relaxation on his part, but a loud noise stops him and makes him glance out of his cell, in the direction it came from. That’s where he finds Ben, kneeling in front of a droid and muttering curses to himself as he takes it apart. Just the kind of sight Hux hoped he’d be spared of.

Ben throws a glance his way, as if sensing his stare. “Good morning,” he says, the two words kinder than the man had been to him in all the years they’d known each other. “I didn't think you'd be up so soon.”

“It’s impossible to stay asleep with all that racket you’re making,” Hux replies with a scoff, stretching his limbs and not very subtly shifting away from the cell door. “Shouldn’t you be in a cell, too?”

The other shrugs as if that’s meaningless. Of course it is, to him. When had Kylo Ren ever cared about consequences? Not when he left the droid on Takodana, not when Starkiller was destroyed, not when taking the girl to Snoke, not when focusing his rage on one man and letting the Resistance go, not when promoting Pryde - never, to be blatant. “I was, but it got boring so I’m not in a cell anymore. Aren't you bored?”

Hux wonders, briefly, if the question is a serious one. They’ve been arrested, entertainment isn’t something anyone is concerned about. They’re not about to sit down for a holomovie or whatever Ben’s idea of prison adequate entertainment is. In the First Order, the most fun a prisoner had was when they weren’t being tortured.

But Ben is still the same person with the same ideas and little knowledge about things he’d considered below him, so Hux has to guess he expects an answer. “What am I supposed to be bored of? Remembering my past wrong deeds?” He asks, as dry as he can be.

The other sets his tools down to look at him as he laughs. “ _Wrong deeds_? You? I know you better than that.” Hux wants to protest, yet they’ve worked with each other for years and he has no doubt that the other at some point looked into his mind with his Force skills. “Even if you had the ability to regret something you’ve done, you don’t think any of it was wrong.”

There’s truth in the words and Hux can’t and won’t deny it. “I projected the machine with the largest destructive potential in the galaxy,” he gloats, an answer in itself. It had never been a small or easy task and he isn’t about to start treating it like one even after its destruction or their defeat. “Or do you think scientific progress is wrong? If history sees it as that, it will only be because it was built for the losing side.”

“No? I was wondering if you wanted me to let you out, actually, not about…” Ben makes circular gestures with his hands and Hux guesses he means Starkiller. He rolls his eyes and drinks some of his water, trying to convey exactly how little interest he has in leaving his cell. Reasonable, he knows the bars present no protection against Ben, but he can appreciate the illusion of isolation. “Okay. You stay there.”

And Hux does. He stays while Ben fiddles with the droid, after he gives up on it and goes away to explore the ship, when he comes back to eat and Ben is still back in his cell when Finn comes to them.

To Hux’s surprise, Finn walks past Ben’s cell and stops in front of his, punching in the code to open the door. He doesn’t ask questions, even if he’s curious about the reason behind the other’s presence; he knows he’ll find out soon enough without giving away his interest. He only stands and follows when the General turns his back to him and walks away.

Any attempts at an attack would be futile, as there are no weapons, requiring an improvised tool, there is no escape and he has few allies. Finn knows that as well as he does and is confident in his safety and Hux has to admit that it’s a decent show of power. For now, his place is simply to follow.

Finn opens a door and lets Hux walk inside before going in, locking it behind them. It serves to intrigue Hux further, as Finn can only have done so to keep his own allies away. Whatever this is, it isn’t about the Resistance or the General. It’s about the former trooper.

It’s a storage room, as wide as one might expect from such a ship, and Hux sits on what looks like a stable pile of crates. He looks neutral, decades of practice making it come naturally, while the other is nervous, pacing in an apparent search for words.

When Finn stops, he’s visibly troubled. “Why did you do it?” _It_ , with the past year’s history, can mean any number of things and Hux expresses that thought with the raise of an eyebrow. “Any of it. All of it. You build Starkiller, then you help us. You work for Kylo Ren, then you want us to arrest him. _Why_?”

Hux can lie. He can tell him what a person in his position must want to hear, that he’s seen the error in his ways and changed his mind about the First Order, but he also _can’t_ say any of that because of the simple fact that he doesn’t want to.

“Why? I might have been compelled to answer if you were a direct superior of mine, and while we don’t stand in the same place that we did before, I have no reason to tell you anything. You are no better than me.”

It’s nothing, to Hux. No further provocation than what he’s said to Finn or many others over the years, no insubordination that doesn’t match his prior history, and yet the reaction he gets, clenched fists and a glare, tell him that the words hit an unseen mark.

“I am nothing like you. You destroy people and we pick up the pieces to make the galaxy better. You start a war for power and we suffer the losses. You always want more until there’s nothing left to give, from planets, from people, it’s all the same to you. You ruin _everything_.” Finn is moved, the belief in his own words clear - too clear to avoid Hux’s suspicion. 

Because he knows provocation and insubordination, but he also knows how to pretend. 

Finn _wants_ to believe, but he doesn’t.

Hux hums. A General who doubts himself? That’s unusual, to say the least, and still he can understand. Finn defected at the height of the war, it’s unlikely that he’s had a chance to process his feelings regarding his time, his _life_ in the First Order. Does he even know that the life he led before is over? If he does, he certainly hasn’t grieved.

Hux knows the importance of grief. He didn’t grieve his father, but he grieved the false security that Brendol Hux’s existence presented him with, and celebrated all else.

“And you’re wondering how much of everything you ruined with me.” This time, there’s a visible flinch, as if Finn had been struck. There’s no wondering if this is the source of the problem, it can’t be anything else. “You’re wondering how much of the First Order is inside of you right now, even after having reached such a high position in the Resistance. An admirable concern, but futile.”

Where there had been uneasiness mere seconds ago, there is now suspicion merged with curiosity. For the Resistance, they are evil; it’s easy to see why Finn is so conflicted and why he doesn’t trust himself or others to address the problem, letting it eat away at his mind slowly until it threatens his sanity. Hux can understand that, even without a moral conflict of his own and with no sympathy to offer.

“You made a choice,” Hux adds when it becomes clear that Finn won’t fill the silence. He must be lost in his own head, in the turmoil that is living in a different setting than the one he was raised for. It might not seem so simple, to him, telling apart FN-2187 and Finn. Different faces of the same person, torn apart by circumstance.

“I left the Order,” Finn muses out loud. When Hux shakes his head in disagreement, his brows furrow.

“You left and you lost nothing because of it. I’ve analyzed the reports of your only mission, I know you lost the troopers you socialized with. You got away from the First Order’s participation in the war: you were pretending to be uninvolved to avoid a choice. Choices aren’t simple, easy things. Situations that are too straightforward aren’t _chosen_. You won’t make a choice if you aren’t willing to take something away from someone, General, and to see them suffer for it. And without a choice, you’re simply taking comfort under the pretense of neutrality. Looking at the men you used to fight beside, murdering them and calling it for the greater good? That is a choice.”

It says a lot to him about Finn’s composure that he looks away, to the floor of the ship. One year. Finn is no longer a First Order stormtrooper, and yet there’s so much of the trooper program in him. It’s fascinating.

This time, Hux doesn’t break the silence. He follows the cracks in Finn’s countenance even once the General begins to put himself back together. “What does that tell me about your motives? Who did _you_ choose?”

For that, there is only one answer and Hux doesn’t even have to think about it. 

“I make my own side.”

There’s no one else worth being loyal to, no one whose motivations and intentions he knows as well as his own and no one who can keep Hux safe as well as himself. The only ally he can repeatedly count on is his own person; anything beyond that is achieved through effort and manipulation. Mitaka’s loyalty had saved his life, yet he wouldn’t have without Hux’s prior treatment of him. He has full control over himself and he will only ever use it in his favor.

Finn accepts the answer with a nod, easily recognizing that it originates from Hux’s selfishness. Resistance members are incredibly easy to please. “It was all for yourself.”

It’s an overly simplistic way to put it, but it works for him. It gets Finn to open the door and guide him back to his cell, where he expects to be left on his own.

“What was that about?” Of course, Ben’s voice proves him wrong.

“Your impending death sentence,” he answers, hoping that will be enough to be left alone. And for now, it is.


	3. Chapter 3

It’s been five days since Hux last heard a word from Ben. He knows the man is still alive, he sees him come and go as he wills, but they haven’t been addressing each other and Hux is perfectly fine with that.

At least that’s what he tells himself. In reality, he flinches every time Ben leaves his cell, stomach twisting uncomfortably in dread that he might do something. The Resistance might not take an active part in torturing him, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop Ben from doing it.

Ben. As if he’s a good person now. It’s just a name, it shouldn’t bother him so much, but fact is people will hear Ben Solo and remember Han Solo and Leia Organa, where Armitage Hux is stuck with the memories of Brendol and Starkiller Base. 

(He doesn’t regret Starkiller Base. He regrets that he didn’t have enough power back then to stop Kylo Ren from ruining his life project.)

Stagnancy is unlike him. He went long enough accepting his situation after Pryde’s promotion, he doesn’t want a repeat of that. And yet, what can he do, imprisoned and awaiting a trial? Waiting is a terrible thing. The fact that it’s a verb implies something is being done when the process of waiting involves distracting oneself from whatever it is they’re waiting for, it’s a nothingness that disrupts Hux’s craving for action.

They’re taking awfully long just to declare him guilty.

He doesn’t know how a trial should be. In the Order, it was quite simple: if one was found to be suspicious by a person of higher rank, that person was allowed to take immediate action. Desire to watch the Order thrive would keep them from sacrificing people needlessly, as well as awareness of exactly how much the training of each officer and trooper cost them. They couldn’t simply be cast aside.

Like Hux himself had been, after being discovered as a traitor.

Hux can’t resent that. If anything, he is amused, alive where Pryde is not, proof of the man’s failures. Loyalty isn’t something a man like him can value properly - he might have been loyal to Palpatine, but he never did _inspire_ loyalty. The same could be said for Kylo Ren and that was why Hux never believed the Order would thrive under his command. 

If only he had gotten a chance, he could have made it right. Now, it seems less likely than ever that he’ll so much as give out orders again.

But. There is one thing he _can_ control, as much as he hates to admit it. Instead of waiting for Ben to lash out, he can make the first move. He can call Ben’s aggression upon himself and that way, stop worrying about when it will happen. It’s a less than ideal situation, but it’s the best choice he has. If he has to face a trial and with it, the unknown, he should very well be able to face his past.

Before he can overthink this, factor his prior injuries and Ben’s power in his decision, he stands up, walks to the cell door. It’s an unusual thing, built on bars instead of a solid durasteel wall, and he guesses that has something to do with the ship’s air distribution system. Ben is right outside, as usual, throwing a screwdriver at the now functional droid and waiting for it to throw it back at him. When he realizes Hux has moved, the droid throws the object on Ben’s chest and it clatters to the ground in his distraction. It’s unlikely that it hurt, yet Hux takes satisfaction from it.

“Are you opening this door or going back on your word?” Hux asks. He doesn’t have to force himself to sound hostile - looking at Ben makes that easy enough.

Ben seems taken aback, at least. Hux doesn’t take that as proof that the man hadn’t intruded on his thoughts, but he gets what he wanted when the door clatters and opens with a wave of Ben’s hand.

It’s when he steps out that he realizes how stifled he had felt in a cell. Perhaps if there were walls he would have felt better, the impersonality of prison quarters less obvious to him with his mostly standard quarters back in the Order, but the lack of privacy offered by the bars disturbs him. Even though he’s closer to the other, he can breathe more easily, but he will never admit to that.

He won’t thank him, either.

His arms shake briefly with the urge to cover his chest, to protect himself against the danger that stands before him, but no. He wants this, he repeats to himself. This is easier.

“Are you going to keep pretending you’re actually a prisoner of the Resistance?” He asks, without much planning. It’s always like this, with him. Hux had been taught to keep his emotions, his _weaknesses_ , to himself, but kriff, Kylo Ren _really_ pisses him off.

“But… I am,” Ben answers with a confused blink. Hux huffs and rolls his eyes. “They told me I can’t leave except for my trial. You’ve spent more time going around than I have.”

Once upon a time, Hux might have believed that. Once upon a time, over a year ago, back when Hux had fooled himself into considering Kylo Ren an equal, he might have thought that there was some meaning to it, that Finn had spoken privately with Hux, but no one went through the particular effort to talk to Ben for any reason beyond not needing to.

At the end of the day, Ben Solo will get away with everything, as if he was never Kylo Ren.

“Exploring this ship with Resistance high command is such an honor.” Hux takes control of himself and places his hands on his hips, looking down at Ben with a raised eyebrow. Self-preservation instincts tell him this is wrong. He stays as he is. “As is being here with you, _Supreme Leader_.”

Ben winces. Hux takes that as encouragement.

“Tell me, what are you expecting to happen? Do you plan to take over the Resistance, too?” He provokes, an ugly, insincere smile on his lips as he talks. “Maybe you should have done that earlier. It would have been much easier to take them down if someone like you were in command.”

“I did what felt right,” Ben argues, voice quiet. He doesn’t want to have this conversation. Good.

“What, the Force told you?” Hux mocks. “Of course, blame the one thing no one but you understands in the Order. What can we do but accept your might, Kylo Ren?”

It’s such an abrupt movement that Hux can barely see it as Ben stands up, grabs the lapels of his uniform and pushes him into the cell’s bars. The metal digs into his back but Hux barely feels it, satisfied with the agony that twists Ben’s features. He’s always been so expressive. Hux had never felt happy about that before.

“What are you going to do now?” Ben is shaking, he’s too close to hide it even if he wanted to. He must be taken over by his emotions, just like Hux wanted. “Choke me? Kill me? You might as well save your Resistance the trouble.”

The words feel so right, but they fail. Ben’s hands fall to his sides and he looks...defeated. Hux is puzzled, enough so that he loses control of his own expression, and yet Ben isn’t looking at him. He’s looking at the floor.

“It’s not my Resistance,” he whispers. “I’ve never resisted anything.”

Ben takes his place in front of the droid again, but now he stares at it in silence. Hux doesn’t need to be told to realize that he’s being ignored. His eyes are fixated on the back of Ben’s head but nothing happens, Ben doesn’t change his mind, no attacks are made.

It’s the first time in a long while Hux comes out of an interaction with Ben unscathed, and yet he’s more unsatisfied than he has ever been.

-

The next time Ben walks back into his cell, he doesn’t leave.

At least, Hux doesn’t see him outside again. He hears vague, quiet sounds of life coming from the other cell but thankfully there are walls between them. Mitaka pays him a brief visit and still, Ben says nothing. Does he recognize Mitaka? Hux doubts it, especially now that the officer is out of his uniform. 

Hux refuses to leave his coat. No one dares comment on it. 

The news about his former employees improves Hux’s mood. He’s never needed social interaction, even less so after a year of seclusion whenever he wasn’t working, but it’s been a long time since he last felt like he owed his life to someone. That they’re doing well is really all he can hope for.

Ben is still silent when the officer of the day arrives with a tall woman, unknown to him, which makes it all the more surprising that she’s looking for him and not out of anger.

“This is your lawyer,” the Resistance officer says, the smile on his lips making it clear that he doesn’t believe the lawyer’s presence will make any difference.

Hux can’t blame him. The entire situation is so complex that he’s convinced she’s just a Resistance member in disguise, meant to convince him to confess his ‘crimes’ and accept his punishment.

He has nothing better to do, so he follows the two of them for what can be a couple of minutes at most to an interrogation room, strategically placed near the cells. The officer leaves them alone and Hux doesn’t wait for her before taking a seat, posture perfect and without any displays of weakness.

“I’ve been told to expect little collaboration from you and that seems to be correct, but either way I have to run you through this,” she begins, sitting down and placing her datapad on the table between them. “The people who hired me want you alive.” He blinks once, eyes briefly squinting in suspicion, but his facial features go neutral soon enough. They must want him alive to take revenge at their own hands, he guesses. “Apparently, the representatives of Arkanis believe your survival and philosophies are vital. You have powerful friends.”

Arkanis? Somehow, that one word is more unsettling than anything he’s heard until then. He doesn’t _know_ anyone in Arkanis, not anymore. After he left, he knows the planet fell into the New Republic’s hands and he hasn’t cared enough to look for any information about the place since, certainly not enough to think of someone he’d known during his early days.

Except. _Her_.

Hux loathes that the thought comes to him. _She_ is not alive. _She_ is not a part of his life. _She_ isn’t even someone he knows, just vague memories - humming under the rain, the smell of freshly baked foodstuff drawing him out of bed, he can’t even attach a _face_ to such thoughts.

It’s useless. There’s nothing to gain from a ghost.

He pointedly doesn’t ask anything about whoever it is, even if the small spark of hope in his chest continues to linger through the conversation. “What approach do you have in mind?” It’s the only thing he needs to know, to learn if the woman is being sincere or if someone looked at his file in an attempt to elicit an emotional reaction from him.

“There are many ways to go about this. You can always divulge information on the First Order bases that are still active to help the Resistance.” He rolls his eyes. “She knows you well. The First Order was created after the signing of the Galactic Concordance and had no participation in it, so if you want to survive, deny any connections to the Empire.”

“I was never a part of the Empire.”

“That’s what I want to hear. You don’t have to worry about the details. We’ll build your case around you being subjected to First Order law. They won’t like that, but it’s your best chance. We can throw them off by offering a life sentence in exchange for your life - off camera, it’ll raise their confidence and they won’t accept because let me tell you, you’ve pissed off a lot of people. If you don’t go to a public trial, there might be riots.” Hux knows that very well, but hearing it has a different appeal. It’s amusing, even more so now that what is perceived as his downfall is being used as part of a strategy to help him. 

It’s a risk, but… “That does seem like sound logic.” And on the off chance that it doesn’t work, he’ll get rid of the lawyer, appeal to the Resistance’s sense of justice.

“I’m not going to be able to do this properly if you don’t tell me your side of things. So, are you ready to talk?” She asks, an eyebrow raised. Between her straightforward demeanor and the logic behind her words, he guesses taking a chance is his best option at the moment. 

His account is very detached. For someone who is talking about their own life, Hux sounds like a droid giving a description of facts, from leaving Arkanis to be raised into the First Order, being on officer track, making his way up through the ranks, Starkiller Base, Crait, Pryde’s promotion up until when he was shot. It’s like writing a report, simple and painless.

To her merit, the lawyer only listens. She nods once when he’s done, unlocking the datapad to go through some files. He recognizes the New Republic logo and gets a glimpse of his name, which leads him to assume those are his case’s files. “May I get a copy of that?” He requests. He is no specialist in the area, but in order to understand what is expected of him now, he first needs information about it. 

She raises an eyebrow. “Of course. You should already have had access to them.”

He didn’t know that. Accusing someone of a crime was much simpler in the Order. “I don’t. I didn’t ask.”

“They should have done it either way. You have rights.” He tilts his head in interest. He knows the Resistance’s ways are different, but it seems he had no idea of exactly _how_ different. 

“I know that,” he protested, insulted at the implication that he was out of his depth even if it was true. “I haven’t gotten tortured or anything of the sort.”

“That’s a basic right. They have to treat you like any other defendant, for example. Whether you can be tried at all is still a topic of discussion.” If that’s how the New Republic’s bureaucracy works, it’s no surprise they fell apart so easily. Not that Hux minds now that it works in his favor. “I’ll have them send you more information since you’re interested and no one else seems to be keeping you informed. It’ll also be useful to set up future holo meetings.”

Hux hadn’t known that was a possibility, but then again he now sees that he hadn’t known much about the mechanics of the Resistance. He’s always been told about what a mess it was, and yet here he is now, his life depending on its proper operation. 

The lawyer is gone not long after and he’s back in his cell, a brand new datapad in hand, given to him by a sour looking Resistance officer. He sits down with his back to the wall, closes his eyes, and holds his breath so he can focus on listening for any presences. He hears the fading footsteps of the officer who brought him back and even fainter, the sound of… snoring? He squeezes his eyes as if that would help him hear better and the noise is still there, and it can only come from Ben’s cell.

He can’t help it. He laughs.

So much unexpected information had been sent his way today and yet this is what shocks him. The feared leader of the Knights of Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order for one year (one year too long, if anyone asks him), snores in his sleep.

It’s a surprise, but it keeps a smile on his lips as he looks through all the provided texts on the New Republic. 

Strange that all this information had been right there, and yet he’d never cared enough to look. Never had a reason to. He can’t say he agrees with most of it nor that it doesn’t feel convoluted and exaggerated, but after being convicted in the system he’d spent his life defending, the idea of surviving the system he never agreed with is a welcome challenge. 

And it doesn’t seem unlikely, either. He can’t say he understands everything, he’s not used to the complex details and one thing leading to another thing he’s never heard of. In the past, he’s always had everything under control - when something new came up, it was fairly easy to predict with the information he already had, with very few exceptions. 

The New Republic is like an entirely different galaxy he’s never known existed. He can’t brush aside all the information that was thrown his way in the past, he still has difficulty understanding how different things are in the documents compared to the image of the State he had built in his head over the years, but he has to. He might not have the best history at being open minded, but he’s smart and adaptable and this is what the current situation requires of him. Not to agree, to seek the information that concerns him and may be helpful. 

He may have someone on his side, but he doesn’t know how trustworthy they are (the lawyer, paid help, and the Arkanisian, who didn’t offer up their identity) and he’s always enjoyed his independence. The situation may require some cooperation and he’ll play along while sticking to his usual methods. 

The sound of snoring accompanies his reading for the rest of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

Hux almost feels like he’s back to work. He spends his afternoons and nights in front of the datapad, attempting to understand the nuances of a government that is foreign to him at the time he’s used to being most productive, while in the morning he does what he can to remind the Resistance that he’s here and he has no intention of giving into them.

He’s already helped them once and got a life threatening wound out of it, he’s not about to repeat his mistake.

His favorite way of annoying them is demanding that they comply with his right to go outside. He doesn’t like being exposed to sunlight, he was never fond of being planetside in places like this, wet and bright and unbearable, but this is something he _can_ do and thus he does it. A silent walk in the sun, accompanied by a dismayed Resistance officer every day, which only serves to improve his mood. He knows very well that he’s being a nuisance and he enjoys every second of it after having spent his whole life dealing with people (Kylo Ren) who did a lot worse to annoy him.

It’s amusing and harmless and, given that the Resistance doesn’t exactly keep up with First Order rations standards, the only option he has that may help him stay alive in the long term. The exercise isn’t bad for him either, now that getting some privacy to spar is completely out of the question. 

While he isn’t welcomed in any sense of the word, leaving his cell and getting glimpses of his former subordinates, safe and not isolated like himself, is a small mercy. All of them have blended in, confirming his suspicions that every single one had betrayed the Order, which he supposes is something to be thankful for in his current state. He tries not to overthink it and, with his own life on the line, that proves to be much easier than he’d expect.

And if he comes across a particularly interesting conversation, all the better.

“-need your help,” a voice says. He doesn’t recognize the voice at first, but when the officer comes to a sudden halt and extends his arm so Hux can’t move either, he figures this must be Rey. The look in the officer’s face expresses that he had known about this and forgotten, likely had been asked to keep Hux away and yet here they are now. “You know this. You already helped us win the war, can’t you help the Resistance stay together? You could give us the sense of unity we need.”

“No.” It’s Ben’s voice, the same he has always known, but he doesn’t sound like war hero Ben Solo, soft spoken and full of excuses. He sounds like the Knight that Hux has known for years, firm and resentful.

“Don’t you want to help build the Republic? Without you, we might not be able to rebuild. There are so few of us, Ben, so many people were willing to help take _him_ down, but they don’t side with the Resistance.”

Perhaps having been told that he had a chance at survival hadn’t been the most interesting things his ear had picked up on during his time here. If this is true, which seems _likely_ as the information is coming from Resistance high command, their problems haven’t been solved. 

It seems that their victory hadn’t been achieved through hidden allies, but through temporary ones and now their time was up. He can see why they are confused - they rely on nothing but hope and when an uncertain situation leads to a scenario that isn’t quite as positive as it seems, they don’t have a backup plan.

Maybe he should feel bad for them. He doesn’t. He’s glad for his own luck and he doesn’t care if theirs ran out.

“What makes you think I do?”

He’s dragged out of there before he can hear anything else, but he’s both surprised and elated at Ben’s lack of allegiances.

-

It is only when the trials start that Hux realizes how dull they are. Of course, with no prior experience, he can’t have any expectations to compare this to. It’s a strange system. 

Unlike the Order’s simplistic (perhaps overly so, if he’s willing to admit it now) ideas of finding someone guilty and punishing them, this is almost theatrical. The defense speaks, the prosecution disagrees, it goes on, the judge or their companion droid interferes if something seems irregular. 

He knows how much is on the line, and perhaps because of that he can’t pay much mind to it. 

The trial is being broadcast from large chambers in Coruscant, where most of those involved are present through holograms, himself included. It’s better this way. He doesn’t think it would bother him, but feeling the eyes of the curious public on him during such a sensitive moment is something he prefers to be spared of. Perhaps some might feel like staying inside private quarters in the ship that should be his prison is an attempt at hiding, but he cares far more about his own comfort than their criticism.

The beginning is simple enough. People who had been infiltrated in the Order for a very long time, mostly those who were already members of the Resistance once they joined, are swiftly declared guilty of nothing. Of course, he supposes. War crimes are always excusable when you’re on the winning side. Had the Order won, he would never have been tried, just like Poe Dameron and Rey and many others don’t have to worry about taking responsibility for the Order supporters they’d slain.

When Finn’s name is called, his attention is regained and he glances at the lawyer sitting at his side. She meets his gaze and nods in return, which he takes as her acknowledgement that this can be important.

Because there is no doubt in his mind that Finn will be let off as easily as the others despite having spent most of his life in the Order.

He hadn’t imagined it could be too bad, but somehow, it is. Hux wonders if he can pinpoint familiar elements about how this procedure works but soon enough, it becomes clear that he can’t compare this to anything else. This is a slap on the wrist at worst. _This_ is where the corruption he had been warned about is, where the equal treatment he had read so much into falls into deaf ears.

A judge is supposed to be a referee, someone to look over the procedure while the accusation lies charges that the defense counters. Opposing parties are, by definition, not supposed to be constantly in agreement, and yet here they all are, making the lightest implications of Finn’s time in the Order. Abducted, they say, undeniably a victim, a harmless janitor.

Finn’s records in the Order, where he exceeded and showed enough promise to be trained by Phasma and taken to a special operation in his first mission, disagree. But that doesn’t help them keep him alive, so he supposes they’re all ignoring that. They don’t want him to go down. Accusing Finn of participating actively in the Order and all that comes with it would either bring him down or release all the other former Order members, Hux included, from their accusations. They’re likely saving that for the higher ups.

It ends quickly. Finn is free and welcomed into the Republic. There are loud sounds of celebration outside and Hux grows tense at the noise.

He supposes they will make just as much of a party if Hux is declared guilty and given a death sentence, but he won’t be helping them. He’s never wanted to ruin someone’s fun so much as he does now, though the element of survival is to blame for this.

His fingers tap against his leg without a proper rhythm - a motion derived from nervousness, he soon realizes, having only been used to the feeling around Snoke or Kylo Ren. The uneasiness doesn’t suit him, but he’s out of his depth here. There is _nothing_ he can do to defend himself. 

And to think that this isn’t the first time he’s been in this situation doesn’t make him feel any better. He doesn’t think a person can get used to having someone else speak on their behalf, he doesn’t think he hates it any less now than he did years ago, back when Brendol was still alive and made it his duty to represent Hux whenever he was around.

At this time, being reminded of Brendol is far from productive. Yet here he is, hearing his name called and unable to speak a single word, completely still as someone else speaks for him. It feels like he’s a child again, a boy who can’t be trusted to make his own calls, and it’s the same as being a young officer who is looked at as if he’s a lesser version of Brendol, only here because of his father and with no power of his own therefore entirely reliant on his blood relation to the man; for all intents and purposes, he’s useless.

The power to decide his future is not his own. It’s a stranger’s. He’s every bit the powerless being he had been for a large portion of his life and at a moment that decides whether he will get a future at all.

Hux misses all of it. His mind goes blank, a defense mechanism so he can avoid being a part of this. All of his preparation, all of his worries, all of his arguments, gone. It’s as if he’s not even involved, as if there isn’t a person at his side who holds his life on her hands. 

Only the sound of yelling brings him out of it. He blinks into awareness, feeling dazed as if he’d fallen asleep out of schedule and had been abruptly awoken, and he knows where he is and why, but he can’t quite allow himself to believe what happened. He had tried to believe the best would happen yet he expected the worst - it really did feel like the ending for him.

And somehow his lawyer is raising an eyebrow down at him, a look of ‘I told you so’ he recognizes well from personal experience in being behind it, the yelling so loud that he’s dizzy. Well, he’s going to blame the yelling because that’s easier. Easier than admitting that the idea of being alive after the Order fell apart is something he had doubted but _wanted_ after discovering that he has much to learn in this galaxy. Easier than wondering what kind of life he might find out there and how unlike his habits it is likely to be.

He has a future, that’s a good starting point. Despite their best efforts, the Resistance had failed to pin him as the lowly criminal they say he is, and that’s more satisfying than he can describe.

Leaving is an option now that his participation in the trial is over and considering the many hours that had dragged on he should consider it, but. If Hux had just been tried, _he_ had to go soon.

Hux hasn’t been keeping track of time, but he knows it’s been at least a couple of weeks since they last spoke to each other. He doesn’t know what Ben has planned, only that he’s across the hallway, waiting for his own judgement.

It’s easy to imagine that he’ll be treated like Finn and have his time in the Order overlooked, like they’ll sweep it under the rug and embrace the changed man they believe him to be. Hux clenches his fist and thinks it will be nice if he gets to see him executed, even if not at his own hand.

Mitaka is called. One by one, his former colleagues go through exactly the same process as him, and while he is actually able to pay attention, he doesn’t want to. He finds it hard to believe that it had been easy, so he turns to his lawyer and asks her what had happened.

The droid, based purely on the logic of their statements, had remained unconvinced that Hux had any duty to follow Republic law. The argument that this trial itself was illegal in accordance with Republic law, as an exceptional court, wasn’t something the Resistance was prepared to rebuke. Of course - they were only ever bold in war, not in government. 

There is, however, _something_. The way the lawyer says that reveals to him that it’s something she had been expecting but didn’t voice, which only serves to make him paranoid in the few seconds it takes her to elaborate. “Arkanis, as you may know, is interested in you, and the Republic enjoys the hold it has on Arkanis,” she tells him right as Unamo is dismissed to no further protest. “So they accepted your freedom if you’re to stay in Arkanis for the next rotation.”

Hux tries to take the news as detachedly as possible. His history with the planet aside, keeping his life _and_ his freedom for one year of being stuck on one particular place is hardly an awful bargain. There is nothing to complain about, truly. He spent one year under Kylo Ren’s command, he can handle _this_.

That doesn’t change how uneasy he is.

At having no idea who wants him there, at not knowing why they want him there, at how no one will wonder what will happen to him once he’s there. Good things always come at a price, sometimes high enough that they can hardly be considered good anymore.

He has no choice.

Before he can lose himself in the thoughts of how Arkanisian structures and culture can be used against him, _his_ turn comes.

 _Ben Solo_ , the judge calls, and the galaxy goes silent.

The first hint Hux has that something isn’t right is when Ben stands up, alone. 

Surely the Resistance would have respected _his_ right to a proper defense, wouldn’t they?

The second, answering his question, comes in the form of a banging sound, of a fist hitting durasteel. From across the hallway, where Ben is.

So it’s with suspicion but without surprise that Hux hears it. “I’m guilty of everything,” Ben says, simple words Hux thought he’d been eager to hear but now that they’re out, his stomach twists and he lets out a heavy breath, feeling as if he’s just been punched.

He can say it’s fear that this might, somehow, affect his case, but he knows better. His mind understands yet he can’t put it into words, so he says what he can. “Stand up,” he tells his lawyer, a direct order as if she was a stormtrooper under his command. 

She’s not, and she raises an eyebrow at him. “You hate him,” she says, like he needs to be reminded of it.

He doesn’t.

“Yes,” he agrees, “that’s why.”

When his lawyer stands, he feels like an absolute fool. What is he _doing_? Since when is it his chosen duty to protect a long term tormentor who very well deserves the punishment that would be bestowed upon him?

When his lawyer builds what he can assume is a defense similar to Hux’s own, the prosecution caves in (suspiciously) easily. He’s unimpressed.

He’s also relieved. There’s no denying it now that he feels as if a weight has been lifted off his chest and it’s not because he’d feared Ben would jeopardize his own freedom. He _doesn’t_ want Ben dead. It’s easier to think that he does and that will be it, his problems with the man will be solved, but he’s had his fair share of traumatic relationships in the past and he knows it’s not that simple. 

Ben deserves to suffer. Hux knows he doesn’t have the physical strength to overpower him when Ben has the Force at his side just as well as he knows that a swift execution at Ben’s own terms isn’t much of a retribution for all of the times he was wronged. He _needs_ to be sure that Ben pays back for everything he did.

And maybe he can have that. If Ben, too, is forced to stay on Arkanis, the Republic should be satisfied that he will stay on their domain and Hux can keep an eye on him. He can have his revenge.

It feels like days until he’s allowed to leave though he knows it can’t have been more than one hour. The lawyer, now that her job is finished, simply tells him the docking bay where the ship taking him to Arkanis will be awaiting him the next day and leaves. He almost regrets not asking who hired her, but now he’s bound to find out once he reaches the planet.

He stands in front of the empty room he doesn’t particularly want to go back into, though he doubts he will have much of a choice. He can go back to the cell he was being held in, yes, but that’s hardly acceptable when he’s just been freed. He can leave the ship, technically, and likely get murdered in the process. Or he can go back inside, rest, and leave the ship only when it’s time to leave this Resistance infested moon.

Just as he turns around to put the last plan into motion, however, he hears the sound of a door opening behind him. Maybe it’s convenient that he sees him now, yet Hux would have preferred to talk Ben into joining him later, when he was well rested and hadn’t just had his life on the line.

He turns around and raises an eyebrow.

“Thanks,” Ben tells him, looking far more earnest than he has the right to be. “You saved my life. I never thought _you_ would do that.”

“Me neither,” Hux agrees. “It’s not worth the trouble.”

Ben’s expression falls. Hux doesn’t care. “But you did it anyway. I owe you so much, for everything.”

Hux had expected that he’d have to help Ben reach that conclusion, and he can’t say he’s unhappy he doesn’t have to, not if it gets him what he wants. “You do owe me. And if you mean to pay me back for saving your life, I can think of something you can do.”

“Anything.”

Hux sincerely doubts that. He’s not about to ask for something extraordinary either, so he goes for it. “Join me in Arkanis. I have no way of knowing if I’ll be safe there.”

“I will,” Ben agrees almost immediately. If Hux didn’t know him, he’d say he’s eager. 

He doesn’t think Ben will actually be of any help to him, but if he’d accepted Hux’s intentions there’s no reason to contradict him. He’s getting what he wants. “We’ll be leaving tomorrow. I’ll expect you here at eight.” 

With a nod goodbye, he steps back inside the room.


End file.
